Cong battle lives on for another day

MUMBAI, MAY 31: Today's was supposed to be the decisive battle of strength between the Congress and Sharad Pawar group but at the end of ...

MUMBAI, MAY 31: Today8217;s was supposed to be the decisive battle of strength between the Congress and Sharad Pawar group but at the end of the day, both the camps shared the day8217;s honours and decided to fight it out on another day. The numbers at two meetings called today were more or less evenly divided and the key decisions of formalising the split and wooing the important undecided leaders were postponed till a later date by both camps. While the pro-Pawar group of legislators will meet again on June 3, the Pradesh Congress Committee PCC is yet to work out a convenient date.

At the close of today8217;s Congress Legislature Party CLP meetings8211; even the pro-Pawar group chose to call their meeting a CLP meet8211;the tally did not give either group the upper hand. The Pawar group claimed attendance of 39 MLAs and 14 MLCs while PCC president Prataprao Bhosale disclosed a list of 31 MLAs and 10 MLCs. Both Chhagan Bhujbal and Madhukar Pichad, leaders of opposition in the legislature till their recent expulsion fromthe Congress, refused to disclose identities of their supporting legislators; instead they stated that seven more MLAs had either telephoned or sent telegrams conveying support.

The battle for numbers is now into its second phase in which the fence-sitters are being wooed by leaders from both sides. Bhosale claimed that 14 MLAs got in touch with him during the day 8212; five by way of telegrams and nine on the telephone. All of them cited prior local commitments as the reason for their inability to make it to Mumbai for the meeting.

Significantly, five of them8211; Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, Jayant Patil, R R Patil, Shankarrao Jagtap and Vishnuanna Patil are from the influential sugar belt where Pawar has considerable clout.See report on page 3.

The Pawar group has the declared support of four Independents in the Legislative Council 8212; Arun Mehta, Vinayak Mete, Shantaram Aher and Ramdas Tadas 8212; while the PCC claimed support of four Independent MLAs who, led by Ramdas Kadamane, met Bhosale during theday.

Though Bhosale had conveyed to the Chairman of the Council and Speaker of the Assembly that Bhujbal and Pichad have been expelled from the party, they had no problems at all in holding the 8220;CLP8221; meeting in the Congress party office in Vidhan Bhavan. In fact, both claimed later that they still were leaders of opposition since they had the support of more than half of the party8217;s legislators. 8220;We will go and meet the Speaker after the June 3 meeting to sort out the legal aspects,8221; Pichad said.

Both Bhujbal and Pichad, elected8217; once again as leaders of opposition by the legislators present today, have been authorised to 8220;take all the necessary steps to make amendments to the CLP formation and Constitution8221;. Other resolutions passed in the meeting were an indictment of the Sena-BJP government for the continued electricity shortages and, of course, the important one supporting Pawar for his stand on a foreigner becoming India8217;s Prime Minister. Dilip Valse-Patil and Vasant Chavan were appointedchief party whips in the Assembly and Council respectively.

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The PCC meeting was called to elect new leaders of opposition but it has been deferred in view of the absence of some legislators who requested a more convenient date. Asked which of the two CLP meetings had legal and constitutional sanctity, both sides claimed theirs was the valid one. 8220;We have taken legal opinion and we are in the right. PCC president can8217;t call a CLP meeting,8221; Bhujbal said. But Bhosale differed, 8220;how can that meeting be legal when they have been expelled from the party itself. When they aren8217;t in the party, they aren8217;t CLP leaders either.8221;

Legal sanctity will eventually be decided by the Chairman of the Council and Speaker of the Assembly. Till then, there are likely to be a few minor battles along the way such as the next meeting called by both sides. That8217;s the earliest that the split can be formalised.